Card-delivering device eor vending-machines



E. V. BODDY.

CARD DELIVERING DEVICE FOR VENDINGACHINES.

APPLICATlON FILED MAY 3. i915.

moan-1 @HA EDWARD 'V'. BUDDY, OF ARTESIA, NEW MEXICO.

CARD-DELIVERING DEVICE FOR VEN DING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

Application filed May 3, 1915. Serial No. 25,572.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, EDWARD V. BODDY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Artesia in the county of Eddy and State of New Mexico, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Delivering Devices for Vending-Machines; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates broadly to improvements in vending machines, and more particularly to goods delivering mechanism, in the present case, such mechanism being designed for the delivery of cards and the like.

The object of the invention is to provide means of this class which although being very simple lin construction and therefore cheaply marketable, will be highly efficient in operation.

With this general object in view, the in` vention resides in certain novel features of construction and in unique combinations hereinafter described and claimed, and shown in the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a vertical section through a portion of a vending machine showing the application of the invention to use; Fig. 2 is a horizontal section as seen along the plane indicated by the line 2--2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section through one end of the card delivering worm; Fig. 4 is a detail vertical transverse section as seen on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

In these drawings, constituting a part of the application, the numeral 1 designates a cabinet having a transparent front panel 2 and containing a plurality of post cards or the like 3, which cards are to be delivered one at a time when the delivering worm 4 is turned the proper amount by the insertion of a coin into coin controlled means (not shown) and by then rotating a handle H. These parts, however, are shown and claimed in'my U. S. patent application, Serial No. 841,631, Filed May 28, 1914, whereas claims on the goods delivering mechanism constituting the subject matter of the present case, were stricken from the aforesaid application by division. The two applications may therefore be considered jointly, if it is found desirable to ascertain the manner in which the delivering and coin controlled mechanisms coperate. In this application, however, it is only necessary to illustrate the delivering mechanism and operating means therefor. `To this end, 5 indicates a gear which is driven through the instrumentality of an additional gear (3 from the coin controlled mechanism, upon the insertion of a coin into the latter, said gear 5 being. keyed upon a rotatably mounted hori- Zontally disposed shaft 7 which is either located in or projects into the cabinet 1 as shown in Fig. 1, the shaft being illustrated in the present disclosure within said cabinet at the rear end thereof and as having lone of its ends facing but spaced a considerable distance from the panel 2. Between its ends, the shaft 7 is provided in its curved outer side with a cavity 8 for a purpose to be set forth.

It is by the shaft 7 that the entire goods delivering worm 4 is supported, a rigid connection being established between the two, although such connection is releasable for the purpose of applying worms of different pitch for vending cards and the like of various thicknesses. In the present embodiment of the invention, the worm 4 and its connection with the shaft 7 are formed of a single piece of comparatively stiff wire, such wire being coiled and having its convolutions spaced to .provide the worm 4,

4while one end of the latter is contracted,

thus forming a cylindrical sleeve 9 which Africtionally surrounds the forward end of kthe shaft 7. The free end of the wire after kforming thc sleeve9, is bent inwardly at 10 to provide a stop removably disposed in the cavity 8 in the shaft. Thus it will be evident that although the worm 4 is supported by and rigidly secured to the shaft 7 it may be readily detached by removal of the stop 10 and by turning the worm in a direction to cause torsional motion to be imparted to the coils of the sleeve 9, whereupon the frictional contact existing between said sleeve and the shaft will be relieved, thus allowing the sleeve to be removed. The worm of the proper pitch may now be applied in the same manner as the shaft 7 and the machine is again in condition for delivering the cards or the like 3, which, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, rest upon the worm 4 and are disposed one between each pair of convolutions thereof, it being thus evident that rotation of the worm to the proper extent will feed all of the cards forwardly and will release the front card to deliver the same to the purchaser through the delivery opening 15. In order to now cause the cards to be positively delivered through the opening 15 and to prevent them from tilting and thus binding against the sides of the cabinet, and the sides and ends of said opening, I provide the construction shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, this means being in the form of a horizontal vibratory rod 20 at the front of the cabinet 1 immediately in rear of the panel 2, said rod having its ends bent forwardly to provide crank arms 21 whose terminals are in turn extended laterally through the sides of said cabinet to constitute bearings 22. Depending from and pivotally connected to one of the crank arms 21 is the upright link 23 whose lower end is likewise pivotally connected to an arm 24 provided at its rear end with a spring 25 secured to one side of the cabinet 1, while its other end projects through a vertically elongated slot in the front of the machine directly beneath the cabinet. By this construction, should any of the cards wedge to a certain extent in leaving the cabinet, the projecting front end 26 of the arm 2/1 may be oscillated, thus oscillating the crank arms 21 to cause the rod 20 to vibrate and strike the released cards successively, thus jarring the same loose and allowing them to fall through the opening 15. Needless to say, directions will be imprinted upon the machine stating the exact manner in which the same is to be actuated. Furthermore, when all of the cards are delivered from the cabinet, a rear card 3'L having thereon stops 3b falls partially through the opening 15 and displays the word Empty7 and thus prevents persons from attempting to use the machine when no results would be obtainable thereby. Vhen this card falls, the stops 3b come in contact with an appropriate part of the cabinet 1 and prevent total removal of said card.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, it will be evident that although very simple construction has been provided for carrying out the object of the invention, the latter will be very eflicient in operation and will possess a number of highly advantageous features. Particular emphasis is laid upon the fact that the worm l is provided with no core whatsoever, thus allowing the cards to be inserted suiiicient distances between the convolutions thereof to effectively support said cards in upright positions, upon the fact that the single shaft 7 supports and operates the worm, upon the unique connection between the worm and the shaft7 and upon the provision of the card jarring device, these features being deemed salient parts of the machine.

I claim 1. In combination, means for intermittently advancing a series of upright cards toward an outlet opening, a rod into contact with which the cards are fed, crank means supporting said rod, manually operable connections leading from said crank means, and a spring for returning said rod to normal position.

2. In combination, means for intermittently advancing a series of upright cards toward an outlet opening, a rod into contact with which the cards are fed, crank means supporting said rod, a link extending from said crank means, a manually operable arm connected to said link, and a spring returning the crank means and the arm to normal position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDVARD V. BODDY.

Vitnesses:

.Inssn 'I. COLLINS, WILLIAM M. BELT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

